Its a Wrasse Thing
by luigi-is-god
Summary: [originally posted on ao3] Ranma is a merman of the Wrasse species, a type of fish that changes to the dominant gender, female, when other female Wrasse aren’t present. But Ranma hasn’t seen another Wrasse in the last 15 years, so his female side is his dominant gender! But what happens when he uses a special bracelet to control which gender he turns, but then it breaks?
1. Ranma?

What type of betta are you Ranma?" Akane asked the petite redhead, who looked at her in surprise.

Not that Ranma should be. It was obvious to her that she would've been asked at some point what her species was, but when it actually was asked, she realized that she didn't know how to answer.

Mainly because she didn't know how whether to tell Akane the truth or not.

"Well...um, its kinda funny actually-" Ranma began as Akane quirked her eyebrow, but then Genma suddenly appeared out of nowhere, swinging the door aside as it slammed loudly on the walls of the dojo.

"Boy come along, I need you for my training practice," Genma said as he grabbed his son's arm and quickly began to pull him out of the dojo.

"Mr. Saotome does she really have to go right now-" Akane whined before promptly being cut off by Ranma, who was fuming.

"What the fuck old man?," Ranma spit out as she clawed at her father's iron grip on her muscled arm, "You can't fucking make me train when you want to!"

"It'll be good for you son, now COME ON."And with that Genma dragged the young mermaid out of the dojo, quickly swimming through the hallway as he tried to remember the way outisde again.

——- "Where was it?" Genma grunted to himself as he found himself at a dead end, slight frustration clawing at him for the building for being so big.

"Psh old man, you should know your way around here at this point, its been like three hours since we've arrived," Ranma scoffed at her struggling father.

Genma glanced down at his son, who he held by the arm now.

"Yes Ranma, its **been only three hours**, and in that short of a time I couldn't have possibly possibly memorized the entire layout of this place, but if you have I would be happy if you assisted your father," Genma's words dripped with sarcasm and Ranma promptly rolled her eyes.

"I would be glad to pops, but can you let me go though?"

Genma looked suspiciously at his son, wary to let him go, but Ranma saw the look he had and sighed.

"No, I will not run off. I have a feeling this is about more than training anyways," Ranma spoke quietly, dropping her voice down to a level that only Genma could hear.

Nodding in confirmation, Genma only verbally responded with, "Glad you understand. Now lead the way outside."

\--Meanwhile, Akane stood dumbfounded in her dojo, replaying what had happened in her head. Genma had appeared out of nowhere, and he interrupted their conversation.

'Rude' Akane thought to herself before turning to pick up a few pieces of equipment that fell due to her and Ranma's sparring session, along with Genma's sudden intrusion.

"Oh," Akane said out loud suddenly, "Ranma never told me what kind of beta she was."

Akane stood still for a minute as she pondered what kind of beta Ranma could possibly be. Maybe a Natural?

'Well no' she thought. 'She must be a rainbow type'

Even with that picture in mind, Akane still had a nagging feeling telling her that she was wrong. Ranma was a strange girl, and an even stranger beta. She had never seen such a patterned tail on anyone at her school. The neon pink tinged orange that caught the light with a shimmer. The cool blue stripes ringed with black that popped out from the pink-orange. The way in which all the stripes gathered together to create the shimmering icy blue tail bottom that seemed to glow in the dark.

Of course, Ranma's tail was plain compared to Mr. Saotome, Akane, her dad, and her sisters, but there was something beautiful in the simplicity of her tail that made it stand out. It was really attractive, sure to attract mates in the long run, and as Akane had noted during their spar, it was much more easy to function without the decorational fins that often proved to be a nusicance for Akane.

Looking at her own tail, she began to feel slightly annoyed at the spaded tail that always got in her way. Sure she might be a good brawler, but in fights like the one she had with Ranma, she knew how inexperienced she was compared to the seasoned female warrior. As she still looked disapprovingly at her dappled blue tail, Nabiki burst into the room, bringing Akane back into the present within an instant.

"Oh shit Akane, did I scare you?" Nabiki said with fake concern in her voice, a sly smile on her lips as she began to pull out her camera and swam over to Akane.

"Goddammit Nabiki, you are just as bad as Mr. Saotome. He just burst into here earlier and-"

"Ok I'm going to have to shut you up there," Nabiki said, oblivious to Akane's reddened face and the way she tightened her fists as if getting ready to punch her, as she quickly found the picture on her camera and put it into her sister's face, "look."

Akane looked at her sister with the thirst for revenge in her eyes before she took a glance at the screen, and she couldn't understand what she was seeing.

In the picture, Ranma was arguing with Mr. Saotome, her usually dull grey blue eyes alive with a quiet fury, and Akane noticed that the girl's eyes were actually mixed with an electric blue shade that popped out in the photo. Mr. Saotome was staring down at his short daughter, frozen still forever midshout. Their body language gave off that they were both arguing with one another, a rather serious one at that. Looking away from both their faces, Akane realized something else. Mr. Saotome had Ranma's wrist, the sleeve of her black long sleeve rolled up to reveal a thick black band of some sort. Akane squinted to try to see what exactly what the band was, but it was hard to make out with only the photo.

"Why are you showing me this?" Akane finally asked, pulling her face away from the camera so she could look into her sisters annoyed brown eyes.

Rolling her eyes, Nabiki pulled the camera back so that only she could see the screen, pressing one of the little buttons on the side of it while muttering something like 'gullible' under her breath.

Nabiki handed the camera back to Akane, who took in a small gasp.

It was the same photo, except the girl wasn't...well a girl.

In the picture was a teenage merman, a handsome one at that, with black hair that was tied into a long braid which framed the boy's blue eyes, which were a mix of a greyish blue and an electric shade. The same as Ranma's. This didn't make sense to Akane. The body language, and though Mr. Saotome wasn't frozen midshout, his face was lined with visible confusion and frustration. Instead of him, the boy was frozen stockstill in what looked like almost a roar- she could almost feel the amount of fury radiating from the singular photo. It was almost exactly the same. Almost as if the photos were but seconds apart. The band on the gir-boy's wrist was still in Mr. Saotome's hand, except now there seemed to be a little red light emitting from the middle of it.

"Sis, what are you tryna show me here," Akane asked in disbelief, not understanding. "How is this possible? Is it some sort of camera trick you figured out?"

Nabiki sighed out loud, not believing how stupid her younger sister was.

"No Akane, this is not some sort of trick. Don't you see? This is Ranma!"

Akane looked at Nabiki, "Both of them are Ranma? Thats not possible!"

Nabiki quickly silenced her sister, instead explaining, "But it is! I was sort of...observing, if you can call it that, from behind the seaweed out in the back, listening to the two argue. Of course, being the person I am, this could be valuable information, and you won't believe how right I was!" Nabiki finished with a grin.

"So what was it?" Akane spat out, tired of her sister trying to prolong the reveal.

"Ok, so it started with Mr. Saotome saying 'You have to-"

\--"You have to man up Ranma! You disgrace the Saotome bloodline by introducing yourself as a woman to your possible brides!" Genma shouted at his son, who stared back him with hard blue eyes.

"I dont want to! And you know the fucking bracelet is acting up right now, and it keeps switching me to a female every 5 fucking minutes!" Ranma hissed back, her voice full of venom as she referred to the bracelet with disgust.

"I already told you, I got the tool that'll fix the bracelet up, I just need you to fucking cooperate," Genma hissed in a low voice as he grabbed his son's right wrist, quick to grab hold of the thick black metal that was hiding under Ranma's long sleeve shirt.

Pulling the sleeve up, Genma was quick to snag his nails across the crevice the otherwise-smooth black metal band, quickly pulling it towards him.

The bracelet gave a small hiss as it opened up, revealing the small little switch inside.

Ranma quickly tried to pull her wrist away, shouting "Fuck off!" at Genma, but it was useless. Her father had a deadly strong grip on her.

'Fuck' she thought 'I forgot how strong he can be sometimes, that damn bastard.'

"Don't fucking move," Genma growled at his son as he repositioned the band so he could see the switch, which was barely the size of a pea.

He pressed the small switch up, and he felt his son flinch back as a shudder ran through his entire body, almost like a spasm. That's when he let go. 'I did it' he thought.

It was quick, almost instantanious, the switch. The quickest Genma had seen the switch, which slightly worried him. Maybe it was dangerous for it to move that fast.

Suddenly, his son was at full height, facing his father face to face.

"What the fuck was that for! That hurt - like - hell you know! I could suffer from repercussions because of that damn it!" Ranma roared at his father, causing the hidden mermaid behind the seaweed, whose eyes were wide with amazement, to flinch.

"You may be right, that was strange," Genma said admittedly, unmoved by his son's raw anger, something that was rarely seen.

_"May be strange_? I know for a fact that somethi-" Ranma hissed at his father before suddenly cutting off his words with a groan as he clutched his stomach, quickly dropping onto his knees.

Genma was on the boy in a second.

"Ranma? Son, answer me. What's the matter?" Genma cried out, his entire demeanor now one of full concern for his son.

"My stomach- its..." Ranma choked out before throwing up on the soft sand ground, where floating upwards slowly before settling to the ground.

"Son?" Genma asked quietly as Ranma finished retching out his breakfast.

Genma saw the change. Red suddenly began to peek through the black hair, slowly growing until his son's hair was fully red. The way his son shrinked down to half his height. The way his neon tail became slightly dimmer and elongated, no longer catching the light as brightly as before.

But what did stay the same was the eyes. His son was looking at him right in the eyes, bright eyes full of unbridled fury as he stared him down, void of all emotion but anger.

"I told you something would happen old man," She said in a voice, a calm quiet voice that betrayed the emotion being expressed in her eyes. "You are lucky this is as bad as it got, next time I'm sure something worse will happen," she finished before turning away from her father and swimming off.

Genma closed the distance between them, pushing himself ahead of his son so that they would be face to face again. He looked apologetic in a sense.

"I need you to be a man, you know the consequences that were to befall us if you don't truly become a man-among-men," Genma burst out, desperate to convince his son that he was..well his son!

"And I need you to understand that I am a completely different species from you dad," Ranma's voice dripped with venom, "My body naturally switches between male and female and just because I have the bracelet to control which parts I have, it doesn't mean its safe. I'm the first official user of this thing, and you and me don't know what the consequences it can have if I'm switched with this thing-you know- NOT WORKING!"

At this Genma did flinch.

"THIS THING HAS BEEN ACTING UP SINCE WE WENT TO THE CURSED SPRINGS! YOU SAY YOU CAN FIX IT, BUT UNTIL IT IS FIXED IM PRETTY SURE ITS DANGEROUS FOR ME TO USE THIS THING!" Ranma screamed at her father, voice rising to a shriek as the girl raged at him.

"Son-" Genma began.

"Don't. Fucking. Even." Ranma coldly butt in.

"I don't want to hear it pops, not right now. We are going to have to tell them, but they won't believe us right now with the bracelet acting up, so you are going to have to fix it. Until its fixed, I'm a girl. Until we tell them, I am your daughter, got that pops?" Ranma finalized, her voice deadly quiet now as she kept her eyes locked on the dark blue-almost black-eyes of her father.

There was a pregnant silence between the two, and hidden in the seaweed, Nabiki had found herself holding in her breath as she tried to remain as invisible as possible, afraid to meet the rage of the redhead. Finally, Genma released a deep sigh.

"Come with me so- daughter, let's get that bracelet fixed right now, so we can officially start your engagement to one of those girls."

Ranma still looked visibly angry, but the tension in her shoulders was less than before, and a raging conflict seemed to pass through her before shook her head and wiped her mouth before looking back up at her father again.

"Fine."

The two, half son - half daughter and father went off together into the house, heading to the only private space in the house, the bathroom, where they could fix the bracelet without the Tendo residents knowing.

\--"WHAT?" Akane shouted at Nabiki, who looked at her with excited eyes, excitement she usually only displayed when she found a new cash source to make bank from.

"Yeah I know isn't it crazy? Ranma is not even a beta! She- or he- I guess is a completely different species, and one that can do a crazy gender switch! And the bracelet, it has something to do with that according to what I hear-" Nabiki ranted on before being cut off by Akane.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT A BOY BEAT ME?!" Akane screamed out, a sudden fury filling her being.

That cheat. The redhead was actually a man. He had looked down on her.

"Sis I think you are missing the point here-" Nabiki interjected, pissed at her younger sister's one track mind and stupid fixtation at her obsession with being better than boys.

"NO I AM NOT NABIKI! THAT PERV SPARRED WITH ME AND DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO HIT BACK! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THAT JERK WILL PAY!" Akane declared in a scream before charging out of her personal dojo in a sudden hot pursuit for the redhead.

Soon Nabiki was alone, and she felt the urge to strangle her sister for her thick head.

"Well no need for those thoughts," She said out loud to herself, and she found herself looking back at the pictures on the camera.

Back at the boy with the beautiful eyes contorted into an image of pure fury. She absentmindedly flinched when she thought about the raw anger in the boy's voice, the way his voice seemed to lock her in place with the harshness in it. But, she saw the opportunity in him. His hidden potential, especially with that switch of his. This could make her a lot of money if she played it right.

"I think I'm going to like this," she said to no one in particular.

Nabiki made sure to print the photos out later.


	2. Species

Fishy fish ideas

Ranma Saotome- Wrasse fish

Genma Saotome- Siamese Fighting Fish (Natural- so basically how Norma Betta fishes look in the wild)

The reason Genma and Ranma are completely different species from each other is because Nodoka is of a Wrasse fish species and despite Genma being the father, it is a very rare occurrence for a hybrid to be born, and Ranma, to Genma's dismay, was born as a Wrasse.

(If you have any questions I will be glad to answer them)

Tendou Family- Siamese Fighting Fish

My idea on this is that all fighters (aside from the more deranged characters like Kuno, Ryouga, Ranma, Shampoo, Ukyo, And etc.) are generically betta fish because Siamese fighting fish are considered the strongest fighters (which is why Genma was upset that Ranma was born a Wrasse and makes him pretend to be a Betta )

Soun Tendou- Siamese Fighting Fish

Kasumi Tendou- Peaceful Betta

Nabiki Tendou- Halfmoon Betta

Akane Tendou- Halfmoon Betta

Soun's wife- Peaceful Betta (shes probably never going to be talked about of referenced though)

Ryouga- Hog Fish (I know it's very unique)

Shampoo- (do I have to say it?) Catfish

Ukyo- ???

Mousse- ???

Cologne- ???

Kodachi Kuno- ???

Tatewaki Kuno- ???

The basic premise of this story was that Genma promised his son, Ranma, to the Tendou family (although as we know he did that to many other families) under the premise that his son was a man among men and the strongest contender to be heir to the anything goes school. However, they realize that Ranma is not a young man but a beautiful young lady, so the engagement is cancelled due to some underlying homophobia. Though, that is changed when Nabiki finds out that Ranma is both a boy and a girl, the change being controlled by a mysterious black band on his wrist that inputs the hormones released to quickly make the transformation from boy to girl or the other way around. The band though is broken, but as Genma is fixing it Akane bursts in and disrupts the two (I really hate her), causing Genma to slip and cause further malfunction to the wristband as it sends a jolt of electricity through ranma and knocks him out cold ( I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that part). Now, Ranma is changing genders at complete random, something that eventually extends to reveal some..complications.

Basically they have to fix it.

How?

I don't know.

Is this story based on whatever comes to mind?

Yes.

Am I regretting the fact I don't know a lot of mermaid lore and stuff?

Yes.

Will I have the third chapter sometime soon?

Yes.

Is that true?

I don't know.

Also thank you for the people who bookmarked (I dunno what you call it here) and are actually interested in this idea. It came to me like randomly one day and I had always thought of developing it into something, but alas I try to and we end up with whatever the hell the first chapter was...


	3. Pill

[authors note: this is on archive of our own! Also, pretend that the underlined text is actually crossed out.]

——

Nabiki made sure to print the photos later.

——

_Why hadn't I seen it before?_

The water stirred, as if uneasy at the slowly building tension in the sea.

_How could I have been so stupid?_

A dappled blue tail, combed with fine, beautiful fins streaked in various shades of blue, flicked irritably as it moved through the water. The colors of the tail seemed to shift in the beams casted by the sea lights, in perfect sync with the shifting levels of rage the mer was feeling.

_How could I not have seen the signs?_

Fool. Turned a blind eye to the girl, dismissed the shadiness surrounding the mer like a school of fish for being overly paranoid.

"You should learn how to trust men. Not all men ar-" Kasumi had told the mer once, her gentle brown eyes staring at her as the mer had finished explaining everything wrong with the male species.

Only to promptly get cut off by their idiot father whining about when dinner would be ready.

They both laughed at the timing of that one, and she had half heartedly remembered to keep her sister's words in mind.

_Well look where that got you._

She could feel rage coursing through her entire body, barely restraining as her hands trembled and quaked. Not in fear though.

But the pure, unyielding desire to kill.

The desire that numbed her senses, that made her heart buzz in excitement.

A fight.

Oh how she could see it all go down.

——

_A whip of her tail as she moved in for the kill._

_The neon hues of the **girl's** mismatched tail now dull against the sandy ground._

_The dark crimson red that clashed with the vibrant red mop of hair._

_The crimson red that kept growing, the liquid turning a lighter color as it lazily drifted above the body._

_The shallow breaths that came from it._

_She could hear the frantic heartbeats in the water, the sound so loud it made her think that it wanted out._

_And that was something she could gladly do._

_She could see the light stir as the body began to move slowly._

_The **girl**, eyes unfocused and at the same time_

_absolutely terrified as their eyes met._

_How she would relish in the fear that once radiated the arrogant little _**_bitch_**_!_

_She could see herself, eyes gleaming copper in the unnatural light casted by the sea lamps that acted as the 'sun'._

_With a big smile on her face._

_A venomous one, one that showed off the dangerously sharp points on the sides of her mouth._

_Oh how _**_she_**_ would scream._

_It could only be seconds from there, for she could only play with her prey for so long before she got bored._

_The **girl** had been interesting, insanely strong and skilled. _

_Definitely no joke._

_**But now she was ever so boring**_

_And with a simple slash of her hand, the girl would be impaled._

_ She would bet on her life that this would be the best moment._

_She would watch as the imposter's eyes glazed over, mouth frozen midscream _

_She would watch until she saw- no- **felt** the body go limp_

_And she would enjoy every second of it._

———

[in another room, a single white pill remains unused] ———

Under normal circumstances, she would have finished her spar with the **_girl_** before promptly realizing her mistake, then going to her room to swallow the little pill.

Under these circumstances, however, the little pill was completely forgotten about.

——

[the pill is forgotten about in the whirling cesspool of emotions]

——

Through the rage, through the coursing rage filling her body, there was only a cluster of thoughts that she could keep a solid grip on.

**_How did you not see through her?_**

**_Had that so called friendship been some sick joke to her?_**

**_ What about that time she laughed at your joke?_**

**_she was laughing at you._**

**_How trusting are you?_**

**_You are getting soft._**

**_ Weak._**

**_a failure._**

She opened up her eyes, which she had closed at some point that she couldn't recall. Her mind quieted a bit when she felt the adrenaline running through her veins, laced with the pulsing warmth that centered in her right hand, pain she couldn't feel.

**_blood._**

Her hand was in the wall, the wall in question now creaking in a way reminiscent to a wail as it struggled to keep together.

When did this happen?

She slowly pulled her hand out. Not out of pain, but in the mindfulness that her family wouldn't appreciate if the wall collapsed because of her.

_Ah shit._

How was she going to explain this to Kasumi?

She stayed there for a minute, tail flicking ever so slightly as she took in the damage to the wall, internally wincing at the damage she had inflicted on it.

As she focused on it, she felt the needy pulse in her hand, causing her to take a look at her right hand. It was bleeding from where pieces of stone had stabbed through the delicate skin, the crimson red slowly but surely escaping from her body as it slightly tinged the water pink. She looked at it with curiosity, gently picking out the rocks as she took in the injury. Overall, she deemed herself fine, but knowing how Kasumi was, she would want to treat the wound before it got infected.

What are you **_doing?_**

She froze.

**_You've forgotten all about that lying bitch already?_**

She felt her entire body go stiff.

**_No wonder she was able to trick you so easily._**

No no no no no

**_It's your own fault that you are such a failure and you know it._**

She could feel herself taking deep breaths as her body began to shake in rage, a rage that she had temporarily forgotten in the midst of her injury and the wall.

Now Kasumi would be all over her.

It was all **_Ranma's_** fault.

It was her fault that she was bleeding now

It is her fault that the wall is broken.

And it was her fault that she felt this way.

She could feel her anger returning to her, and she felt strong as the familiar buzz of energy filled her.

She would make sure that she was never tricked like this again.

She would make sure Kasumi understood that it wasn't her fault

She would make sure that her skin healed without a single mark.

And she would make sure that _**Ranma**_ understood that

**You do not mess with Akane Tendou.**


End file.
